Personnel Practices: Reimbursable Interagency Details

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@GAO Accountabilii * integrity * Reliabilii
United States Genera Accounting Office General Government Division
Washington, D.C. 20548
B-282870
September 15,1999
Mr. William McCafferty
Acting Director of Human Resources
Human Resources Center
Naval Sea Systems Command
U. S. Department of the Navy
Subject: Personnel Practices: Reimbursable Interagencv Details
Dear Mr. McCafferty:
We want to bring to your attention the importance of obtaining reimbursement from agencies
when the U. S. Department of the Navy (Navy) details employees to them. In connection with
our recent review of the personnel practices of the Small Business Administration (SBA), we
found that several agencies, including the Navy, had detailed employees to SBA on a
reimbursable basis but had not billed SBA for reimbursement.’ According to an Interagency
Agreement signed by officials of SBA and the Navy, an employee from your agency, Ms.
Pearlette Pullen, was detailed to SBA on a reimbursable basis from August 29,1994, to
October 15,1994. The Interagency Agreement provided for reimbursement of Ms. Pullen’s
salary and benefits. However, an SBA official informed us that as of May 25,1999, SBA had
not received a bill from the Navy for this employee’s services and, therefore, reimbursement
had not been made.
In accordance with a 1985 Comptroller General decision, details for which reimbursement is
not made would, except in limited circumstances, (1) violate the statutory provision that
appropriations must be spent only for the purpose for which they are appropriated and (2)
unlawfully augment the appropriations of the receiving agency.’
We have not examined interagency details at the Navy. Consequently, we do not know if this
particular case is an anomaly or symptomatic of a broader misapplication of internal controls
governing reimbursements for interagency details. For this reason, we call your attention to
this specific case in the possibility that you may wish to examine whether your agency’s
internal controls are working appropriately to ensure timely reimbursements for such details.
A contact at SBA about the specific case is the current Associate Deputy Administrator for
’Small Business Adminktration: Review of Selected Personnel Practices (GAO/GGD-99-68, Apr. 23,1999).
’ 64 Comp. Gen. 370 (1985).
Page 1 GAO/GGD-99-178R Reimbursable Interagency Details
B-282870
Management and Administration, Ms. Elizabeth Montoya at (202) 2056610. We would
appreciate being notified of any action taken on Ms. Pullen’s detail or on the agency’s internal
controls for interagency details. Please call me at (202) 512-8676 or Assistant Director
Richard Caradine at (202) 512-8109if you have any questions.
Sincerely yours,
Michael Brostek
Associate Director, Federal Management and
Workforce Issues
Page 2 GAO/GGD-99-178B Reimbursable Interagency Details
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